To the Devil a Daughter
1976 Directed by Peter Sykes
Synopsis
...and suddenly the screams of a baby born in Hell!
An American occult novelist battles to save the soul of a young girl from a group of Satanists, led by an excommunicated priest, who plan on using her as the representative of the Devil on Earth.
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Well-put together and cast, "To the Devil a Daughter" features Christopher Lee and Richard Widmark in a story of the occult that is nothing too original, but elevated by a serious tone and some genuinely unsettling moments.
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Possibly the most boring horror film I've ever seen and definitely the worst Hammer production I've seen to date. An unhinged Chris Lee performance and a decent turn from Kinski aren't enough to save it. Widmark is patently bland across the board and the plot is G.L.A.C.I.A.L.
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Hm. The snail-pace thriller scenes featuring a very old, very boring American protagonist - with a few shocking scenes featuring silly dolls, fire & nudeness thrown in - makes for a bad film.
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Ridiculous, boring, hilarious instead of scary, mediocre acting, slowly moving plot, extreme sexual images of a 15 year old, a demon fetus puppet...whatever, I liked it. The more horror films I watch, the more I like the shitty ones of the 70's. Sure, they aren't very good, but at least they are quirky and fun, unlike the lazy boring garbage churned out in the last 10 years or so.
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To The Devil A Daughter is Hammer Pictures' adaptation of Dennis Wheatley's novel of the same name. This effectively was the last of the Classic Hammer Horror series that had previously dominated the international horror market with Gothic films starring the likes of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. With To The Devil A Daughter, Hammer went out with a bang.
Catherine, a nun in the heretic order the Children Of The Lord, has been raised since birth to worship the demon Astaroth and has been groomed to be his avatar (not those blue things) in the world. The ritual to make this happen is going to go down on her 18th birthday. She innocently believes that Astaroth is good, just…
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An overall disappointing entry from the late Hammer filmography. Christopher Lee & Denholm Elliott provide the standout performances here. Made me want to go back and watch Hammer's previous and far better film adaptation of a Wheatley novel "The Devil Rides Out"
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In the latest episode of the Movie Matters podcast, co-hosts Lee Howard and Michael Mackenzie take the Left Hand Path as they delve into the world of the supernatural, examining two adaptations by the renowned Hammer studio of the black magic novels of the prolific Dennis Wheatley, 1968's THE DEVIL RIDES OUT and 1976's TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER. The hosts also discuss significant movies that have so far eluded them in a "Never Seen But Should Have" feature, cast their eyes over recent Blu-ray and DVD releases, and induct another Blu-ray transfer into the Movie Matters Hall of Fame.
Listen to our review of TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER.
Subscribe to Movie Matters via iTunes.
The music sampled in this episode is from THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (James Bernard), THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (James Bernard), HORROR OF DRACULA (James Bernard) and THE MUMMY (Franz Reizenstein).
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Christopher Lee is fun as a satanic priest but otherwise this is a mostly meandering and only mildly interesting film.
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Well-put together and cast, "To the Devil a Daughter" features Christopher Lee and Richard Widmark in a story of the occult that is nothing too original, but elevated by a serious tone and some genuinely unsettling moments.
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Possibly the most boring horror film I've ever seen and definitely the worst Hammer production I've seen to date. An unhinged Chris Lee performance and a decent turn from Kinski aren't enough to save it. Widmark is patently bland across the board and the plot is G.L.A.C.I.A.L.
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Ahh.. it makes so much sense now seeing this is a Hammer film.. it's actually not as 70's and boring as the majority of the other Hammer's, but it's still pretty slow.